Russia and American elections, now featuring radical republicans as co-stars

[Bozo_Casanova 26122]

37 minutes ago, elfenix said:

common misconception. we have the electoral college because even among free citizens the right to vote was subject to different requirements, some requiring property ownership, some requiring a tax to be paid, some allowing free black men to vote, and new jersey even extended the franchise to unmarried women property owners. so a state which extended suffrage would have comparatively more votes to count in a system where more votes wins. it didn't exactly encourage democracy in the way that having a direct election would have encouraged the states to extend the franchise much faster than than did, but that's not antidemocratic.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_719.asp

keep in mind that many states didn't adopt winner take all in the electoral college (which makes it much more antidemocratic) until the second competitive election in 1800, and in the first party system you voted (if you did, some states the legislatures just picked) for an elector, not the person at the top of the ticket.

anyway, the original system was so dumb it was axed after just two competitive elections because *of course* political parties were going to emerge.

YES.

also. When I was in college I slept with a girl from Virginia who was really into James Madison. And other stuff.

Not stable, though. 

Edited September 6 by Bozo_Casanova

[Thatguy 8275]

2 hours ago, Slacks said:

Why do y'all engage?

because lawyers.....

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

2 hours ago, Incredulity said:

It favors stability.  That is very important if you want to have an economy that funds all the leftist fantasies you all want.

Not all the time, and not this time, but sometimes I think "he might have a point here and maybe isn't just trolling."  But then you use the 'leftist' label and I tend to toss all those thoughts out the window .   I promise you, 99.9% of the posters on this board are absolutely not leftists. Trust me, I'm a leftist.  

 

[safe sex 11623]

Fuckin' a

[Bozo_Casanova 26122]

I know I’m not

[Hank Kingsley 20544]

 

[atomheartbevo 89286]

3 hours ago, elfenix said:

No one here is advocating a monarchy. 

[Sawbonz 27125]

4 hours ago, elfenix said:

I had the opportunity to look up Hugo's IP once and he checked out.

Mama Stiglitz’s basement Hammond LA?

[956 Worldwide 34185]

Just spitballing here, but what if the GOP and its supporters made the case for the Electoral College and Senate filibuster to American voters WITHOUT threatening to kill the Vice President and partnering with Russian military intelligence.  Is that idea worth a stress test or nah? 

[Doc Sam Beckett 5781]

1 hour ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Not all the time, and not this time, but sometimes I think "he might have a point here and maybe isn't just trolling."  But then you use the 'leftist' label and I tend to toss all those thoughts out the window .   I promise you, 99.9% of the posters on this board are absolutely not leftists. Trust me, I'm a leftist.  

 

Incredulity is here to be dumb as fuck and post terrible gifs, and he's almost out of gifs

[956 Worldwide 34185]

We are almost done with Fox focus group testing and while I still think that “weaponized DOJ Deep State fake news” has an outside shot, the official line is going to be “we actually just really agree with Putin so it doesn’t make a difference if he pays us.” 
 

The former is far stupider, but it’s much scarier for the country that the latter is the line they think is more palatable.

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26122]

@Anastasis : a live look

 

[atomheartbevo 89286]

40 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Just spitballing here, but what if the GOP and its supporters made the case for the Electoral College and Senate filibuster to American voters WITHOUT threatening to kill the Vice President and partnering with Russian military intelligence.  Is that idea worth a stress test or nah? 

If Texas or Florida flipped for Harris, Some in the GOP are going to make a case to ditch the Electoral College.

[Incredulity 11362]

32 minutes ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

and he's almost out of gifs

Guess again 

[High Plains Drifter 10961]

31 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

We are almost done with Fox focus group testing and while I still think that “weaponized DOJ Deep State fake news” has an outside shot, the official line is going to be “we actually just really agree with Putin so it doesn’t make a difference if he pays us.” 
 

The former is far stupider, but it’s much scarier for the country that the latter is the line they think is more palatable.

 

 

Victims who were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much were you victimized Lil Marco?

 

 

[hayden_horn 11348]

9 hours ago, Tuco said:

Fuck yes.  

From the article: 

They were at the center of this early on. Butina published an article in their magazine in early 2016. They hosted Trump's foreign policy speech in April 2016.  Think tanks are practically indistinguishable from lobbyists, but their funding is completely dark.  

now wait just a minute. are you suggesting that it's always been that dark Russian nra money tho?

jesus christ it's been so fucking obvious and they were doing it right in the fucking open the whole time

Russia owns these fucks in probably a half dozen different ways each

[956 Worldwide 34185]

2 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Can we cut to the chase and figure out which bribes Tommy Tuberville took?

The Russians tried but the confused bagmen at the Opelika Buick dealership just kept telling them that NIL had made this kind of strategy irrelevant. 

[C-Man 26895]

Trying to challenge them?  The Constitution has an amendment procedure embodied in Article V.  It has been amended 27 times since 1789 and the first 10 were proposed within six months of ratification.
Senate rules change all the fucking time.  There's nothing sacrosanct about them.  We didn't even have cloture until 128 years in, and they changed that again, about 50 years later.  It's about time to change it again.
None of this is in the least anti-democratic.  It's part of the system.  The Senate itself is purposely anti-democratic and so is the electoral college.  In 1913 we made the Senate more democratic by subjecting senators to popular vote instead of appointment by the states.  
It's all in the game, yo.
What isn't in the game is theocratic authoritarianism.
 

I like this TwiceHorn

[Biff Tannen 45384]

7 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

now wait just a minute. are you suggesting that it's always been that dark Russian nra money tho?

jesus christ it's been so fucking obvious and they were doing it right in the fucking open the whole time

Russia owns these fucks in probably a half dozen different ways each

The two most obvious Republican crimes (go away Twice) have been Russian money funneled through the NRA and MTG being the pipe bomber (go away Ohio). 

[atomheartbevo 89286]

53 minutes ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

Incredulity is here to be dumb as fuck and post terrible gifs, and he's almost out of gifs

[tx 3 putt 75849]

1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

The two most obvious Republican crimes (go away Twice) have been Russian money funneled through the NRA and MTG being the pipe bomber (go away Ohio). 

 

didn't those nra douches just get a slap on the wrist ?

[Satchel 6908]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

I like this TwiceHorn

Me too.

[Biff Tannen 45384]

5 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

didn't those nra douches just get a slap on the wrist ?

To my knowledge, it has never been investigated.  At least publicly.

[tx 3 putt 75849]

21 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

To my knowledge, it has never been investigated.  At least publicly.

 

that chick spawned a looooooooooot of nra eskimo brothers 😂😂😂😂😂

[Macanudo 12911]

6 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

that chick spawned a looooooooooot of nra eskimo brothers 😂😂😂😂😂

And probably quite a few who did those things, among others, on film.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

 

[Chad Fuck 17431]

What you have to understand is that Russia may be doing something bad but that’s nothing compared to what Ukraine is doing in my imagination. 

But that’s nothing compared to what the queers are doing to our soil, Stewart.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fEp0aKCsrig&si=1YxyQf-jZ4yK1Usc

[Chad Fuck 17431]

because lawyers.....

[TwiceHorn 30967]

12 hours ago, elfenix said:

common misconception. we have the electoral college because even among free citizens the right to vote was subject to different requirements, some requiring property ownership, some requiring a tax to be paid, some allowing free black men to vote, and new jersey even extended the franchise to unmarried women property owners. so a state which extended suffrage would have comparatively more votes to count in a system where more votes wins. it didn't exactly encourage democracy in the way that having a direct election would have encouraged the states to extend the franchise much faster than than did, but that's not antidemocratic.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_719.asp

keep in mind that many states didn't adopt winner take all in the electoral college (which makes it much more antidemocratic) until the second competitive election in 1800, and in the first party system you voted (if you did, some states the legislatures just picked) for an elector, not the person at the top of the ticket.

anyway, the original system was so dumb it was axed after just two competitive elections because *of course* political parties were going to emerge.

That's a valid point, but just one guy's views.  They knew damn well it put a firewall between the office and the electorate, which is undemocratic, and they were ok with it.  See Madison, again, in Federalist 10.  Also see Federalist 68.

Direct election of the President was never under meaningful consideration.

Edited September 6 by TwiceHorn

[Fudge Nuggets 19093]

9 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

The two most obvious Republican crimes (go away Twice) have been Russian money funneled through the NRA and MTG being the pipe bomber (go away Ohio). 

MTG is from GA.

[HornOnTheBayou 8861]

11 hours ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

YES.

also. When I was in college I slept with a girl from Virginia who was really into James Madison. And other stuff.

Not stable, though. 

Kinky

[Bozo_Casanova 26122]

Just now, HornOnTheBayou said:

Kinky

You have no idea [/Jeremy Irons voice]

[WhatTheBuck 28690]

9 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

MTG is from GA.

He was referring to me.

[Pancho 44004]

 

[SydneyCarton 47808]

12 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Just spitballing here, but what if the GOP and its supporters made the case for the Electoral College and Senate filibuster to American voters WITHOUT threatening to kill the Vice President and partnering with Russian military intelligence.  Is that idea worth a stress test or nah? 

 

11 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

If Texas or Florida flipped for Harris, Some in the GOP are going to make a case to ditch the Electoral College.

I mean, somewhere there are some intelligent, if evil, folks in the GOP that have to process that removing the EC, or ranked choice voting, will force more moderate voices to the forefront and push out the crazies, and that the GOP can start winning elections again, right? I mean, you know, without cheating and gerrymandering. 

Edited September 6 by SydneyCarton

[Red Five 40571]

1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

You have no idea [/Jeremy Irons voice]

*Michael Caine

[Jive Turkey 12495]

11 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

We are almost done with Fox focus group testing and while I still think that “weaponized DOJ Deep State fake news” has an outside shot, the official line is going to be “we actually just really agree with Putin so it doesn’t make a difference if he pays us.” 
 

The former is far stupider, but it’s much scarier for the country that the latter is the line they think is more palatable.

 

Little Marco and these GQP influencers are channeling their inner Clay Davis.  Take the $$$ and ask questions later (even though they already know the answer).

[The Royal We 3056]

19 minutes ago, Pancho said:

 

[Tuco 5076]

You have no idea [/Jeremy Irons voice]

I loved that he used that line in two movies.

[wildcat09 29091]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

That's a valid point, but just one guy's views.  They knew damn well it put a firewall between the office and the electorate, which is undemocratic, and they were ok with it.  See Madison, again, in Federalist 10.  Also see Federalist 68.

Direct election of the President was never under meaningful consideration.

They knew that, but it wasn't the point. Direct election of the President of the United States simply wasn't logistically possible in 1787, they had to come up with something else. And they couldn't. They got to near the end of the convention and hadn't figured it out, so they left how to pick the President to a select committee. Because it was hot and everyone wanted to go home, that committee settled on "what if we did a separate Congress that wasn't Congress and only met to pick the President?"

The electoral college isn't really part of the intended design of the federal government at all. It's not fundamental to the separation of powers, nor was it designed with the intent to limit the actual democratic input into the selection of the President. It was a last-minute kludge that everyone settled on because nobody could come up with a better idea that garnered enough support.  

[Biff Tannen 45384]

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

MTG is from GA.

Yes, I was referencing WhattheBuck who chastises my MTG pipe bomber conspiracy theory. 

[MC Fresh Breath 4074]

Like me, apparently The Guardian only recently learned who Tim Pool is.  Kind of lulzy.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

13 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

They knew that, but it wasn't the point. Direct election of the President of the United States simply wasn't logistically possible in 1787, they had to come up with something else. And they couldn't. They got to near the end of the convention and hadn't figured it out, so they left how to pick the President to a select committee. Because it was hot and everyone wanted to go home, that committee settled on "what if we did a separate Congress that wasn't Congress and only met to pick the President?"

The electoral college isn't really part of the intended design of the federal government at all. It's not fundamental to the separation of powers, nor was it designed with the intent to limit the actual democratic input into the selection of the President. It was a last-minute kludge that everyone settled on because nobody could come up with a better idea that garnered enough support.  

Does any other country, (past or present) have anything close to an electoral college system in electing their highest office?  Honest question because I have no idea. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13385]

At the most innocent, these podcasters knew they were being paid large sums of money for doing next to nothing. Tenet Media was paying the podcasters, like Rubin, $400K per month to produce 16 monthly videos of a couple of minutes each. Then Tenet would publish the videos on their platform(s) getting a few thousand views each. 

I don't see that being a crime say from Rubin's standpoint. Employers are allowed to overpay for services even to a ridiculous extent. Employees are allowed to be overpaid.

Where these podcasters look stupid is that they 100% knew the value of these videos nowhere met the level of pay. Rubin or Pool must closely follow the # of views and $/views. They would be well aware that Tenet was paying most likely 1,000 to 10,000x the expected return. Once again, not a crime but you should somewhat ask questions if your boss decided to 1000x your salary.

And if you're in the realm of political discussion, isn't a necessity to aware of who is paying you insane amounts of money? 

[chainsaw 9784]

I feel bad for that lawyer named Eduard Grigorian

1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

At the most innocent, these podcasters knew they were being paid large sums of money for doing next to nothing.

This is the gist of the indictment against Henry Cuellar (obviously he's not a podcaster)

Edited September 6 by chainsaw

[Nice Guy Eddie 13385]

2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Does any other country, (past or present) have anything close to an electoral college system in electing their highest office?  Honest question because I have no idea. 

For President, the US is the only country. You could argue that Prime Ministers are effectively selected by an electoral college-like process. Take the UK. Basically each congressional district decides their rep (MP) and the MP of the majority decide the prime minister. 

[Bozo_Casanova 26122]

40 minutes ago, Tuco said:

I loved that he used that line in two movies.

 

[956 Worldwide 34185]

This is a hell of a way to tell the FBI that they should investigate you.

[Degenerate Gardner 4065]

16 hours ago, elfenix said:

No one here is advocating a monarchy. 

Speak for yourself.  What I want is a good, strong monarchy with a tasteful and decent king who has some knowledge of theology and geometry.

[Red Five 40571]

8 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

This is a hell of a way to tell the FBI that they should investigate you.

"want our voices silenced"

If you're being paid by Russia to spit out propaganda and disinformation.... yeah maybe.